"Did you drive up this morning?" Kevin asked, astonished to see his foster father leaning against his car a little way off.

"Couldn't let you face that bursary panel all on your own, could I?" Chalky pointed out, grinning broadly.

"You're coming with me to Edinburgh?"

"Ready to roll!" They both cheered, throwing their arms around each other in a tight hug.

Hollie shook her head and chuckled softly, exchanging a look with Maggie beside her. The pair were like a couple of big kids when put together. Hollie had overheard many conversations between them about video games and app development and, to her eternal bemusement, maths.

"I was so nervous this morning that I just jumped in the car and drove straight up." Chalky admitted when they broke apart. "Hey…" he fished something out of his pocket and held it up. "Ta-dah! This, hey? What d'you think?"

"What… a flat?" Kevin asked, nonplussed as he stared at the print out of details from an Estate Agents'.

"You've got to have somewhere to live in Edinburgh!"

"No way!" Kevin grinned, turning to look at Hollie.

"Hollie can live there with you, if you want?"

Barely sparing the girl in question a second look, even as she opened her mouth to comment on the idea, the pair wrapped their arms around each other and headed towards the school. Maggie pushed her arm though Hollie's and pulled her along in the wake, seeing a look on her face that caused the housemistress to stop.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't… there's no way I'm gonna get into Edinburgh, is there?" Hollie said with a sigh. "It's not as though I even want to go there anyway."

"Oh, don't be so negative, pet. You can do anything you put your mind to. You just need to focus on your exams, rather than kicking off all the time." Maggie told her, arching an eyebrow.

"But Kev's so set on this…"

"What will be will be. There's no point worrying over anything until it actually happens."

"I suppose… besides, if Kevin moves there I could always get a job in Tesco or something."

Maggie laughed. "Give over."

"I'll catch you later." The teenager said with a tight smile, hearing a loud beeping and spotting her mother's car attempting to turn into the car park.

A very familiar blue car blocked the entrance to the school and Hollie rolled her eyes as a leggy blonde stepped out of it, taking her time to close the door behind her. Barry looked past Gabriella and smirked at Hollie, raising his fingers to his forehead and sending her a salute. Rolling her eyes, the brunette shook her head as Gabriella whipped around to glare at her, before leaning down to say something to her boyfriend.

As soon as Barry had driven off, Nikki turned her car through the gates and zoomed up the slope. Both teenage girls narrowed their eyes at the sight of Mr Reid in the passenger's seat. Putting her hands on her hips, Hollie waited for her mother to stop the engine, before stepping forward to greet her.

"What's going on?"

"What d'you mean?" Nikki asked innocently, shouldering her bag and slamming the door.

"Mr Reid?"

"Oh…" The woman shot the man, who was making a quick retreat, a hard look, before shrugging. "I gave him a lift home last night and picked him up on the way in this morning. He wasn't in any state to ride his bike home after everything that happened yesterday."

The teenager raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Is that why you packed me off to Tom's last night, then?"

Not meeting her daughter's eyes, Nikki shrugged. "I just thought you might want a chance to cool off before I spoke to you about what happened yesterday, that's all." She arched an eyebrow at her. "And we will be talking about it, don't you worry. Now hurry up, kid, we're running late! The bell's already gone. Why are you not in yet?"

"Chalky's come to take Kev to his interview." Hollie told her as the pair of them hurried into school. "He's bought a flat in Edinburgh for Kevin to live in… he said I could live there too, if I want."

Nikki stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, forgetting that they were late. "What? You're going to Edinburgh?"

"I… I dunno."

"I thought you weren't sure about you and Kevin? I also thought you were thinking about Glasgow so you could stay here?"

"I dunno what I'm gonna do, Mum." Hollie admitted. "I doubt I'll get an interview, anyway. I reckon the only thing I'd be doing in Edinburgh is getting a job."

"Do you want to move to Edinburgh?"

Hollie shrugged. "I dunno… I mean… I like Kevin and maybe it would be good to spread my wings a bit, but… I just dunno."

Biting her lip, the English teacher nodded slowly, not looking particularly happy about the latest development in her daughter's life. She didn't say anything, though. Instead she pressed a kiss to the side of Hollie's head and pushed her gently in the direction of her form room, while she headed in the opposite direction.

As they filed into the gym for their PE lesson with Mr Reid, Hollie overheard Gabriella asking him if he and Nikki had got into trouble for being late that morning. Nudging Dynasty, she pointed to where the blonde was talking to their teacher, earning herself a roll of her friend's eyes.

"Just leave it, Hol." Dynasty advised her.

"Hey, what's this about you being given a flat in Edinburgh?" Scout asked, appearing beside them and nudging her friend in the ribs.

Hollie sighed. "It's for Kevin, not me."

"You're so jammy." Imogen disagreed.

"Yeah, but what about what I want to do? What if I don't want to move to Edinburgh? They just seem to have decided everything for me without even stopping to consider that I might have my own ideas about my future."

"Men need to be told how you're feeling." The sensible brunette told her gently. "They don't do telepathy very well."

Sending her a weak smile, Hollie turned her attention to the lesson, throwing herself into their volleyball match as much as possible. She just about managed to restrain herself from physically attacking Gabriella when the blonde claimed that Hollie had deliberately hit the ball hard into her face. Luckily Mr Reid dismissed the accusation, telling Gabriella that if she wanted to sit out she could. Pulling a face as if she was sucking on a lemon, the other girl had refused and had thrown herself back into the match.

"How was the practice interview?" Hollie asked as she bumped into Kevin in the hallway after the lesson.

"Mr Lowsley was asking me some really hard questions, but nothing I couldn't handle." He enthused. Then, as though noticing she didn't seem quite as happy about the situation as she possibly should do, he shrugged. "So? Are you going to wish me luck?"

When Hollie sighed, Imogen said a hasty goodbye and left the couple to talk. "I dunno if I wanna live in Edinburgh."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Kevin demanded angrily. "I've got an interview in two hours!"

"I'm sorry, OK? I know this isn't the best timing and I'm sorry. I just… I have to think about my future as well."

"You said you wanted to do English Literature the other week! You said you were applying to Edinburgh! This morning you agreed you'd come to Edinburgh with me!"

"No, I didn't!" Hollie argued. "I didn't get the chance to agree or disagree! You and Chalky had already made the decision. You never even asked me. You just assumed that I'd go along with it all."

Maggie knocking on the canteen window, pointing at the suit cover that held Mr Budgen's suit that Kevin was borrowing for his interview and beaming between them, cut their argument short. She didn't seem to notice the tension between them, moving towards the door quickly.

"I don't get it. I thought you wanted to stay with me?"

"I… Kev… I just… I don't want to move. I don't want to leave my family." She replied, avoiding the question.

"Come on, come on… you'll see each other when you get back." Maggie told them, misreading the situation and all but dragging Kevin along with her.

"Good luck!" Hollie called after his retreating figure. Kevin didn't reply or make any sign that he had heard, causing his girlfriend to squeeze her eyes closed and go in search of her mother, needing to hear that she had done the right thing by telling him how she felt.

When Hollie found her, Nikki had her head stuck into a pile of marking, although the teenager was sure that she hadn't done more than correct a few spellings on the first paper. She didn't even look up at the sound of her classroom door opening and closing or the footsteps as her daughter crossed the room and perched on the table in front of the desk.

Despite needing reassurance on her own problems, Hollie knew that Nikki was in no fit state to put her mind at rest. There was something very wrong about the way the woman had been acting since they'd left the Resilience Camp and her daughter wasn't really sure what to do about it. It wasn't like when Nikki had been having problems with Tom or when they'd been at each other's throats. Hollie wasn't even sure what had happened.

Almost nervously, she cleared her throat to attract Nikki's attention before speaking. "Mum? Are you OK?"

Nikki looked up quickly, as though she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't be. "What?"

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah… of course." She retorted defensively. "Why shouldn't I be?"

"I… I don't know? You're acting weird…"

"No I'm not." Nikki stood up abruptly, glancing at the time. "I'm just busy. The bell's about to go; shouldn't you be in registration?"

Not giving her daughter a chance to reply, the brunette turned and strode out of her classroom, letting the door bang against its frame and rebound without even batting an eyelid. Moving to lean in the doorway, Hollie watched her progress along the corridor with a confused frown.

Shouldering her bag more firmly, the teenager turned and headed in the opposite direction, her mind turning over various, increasingly ludicrous, ideas as to what could be causing the strange behaviour her mother was exhibiting. She honestly couldn't put her finger on what exactly was bothering Nikki but, considering she didn't seem to want to talk about it, Hollie guessed it had something to do with her relationship. Although, she mused as she walked into her form room and dropped her bag onto a table with a bang, it had never really been something Nikki had avoided talking to her about before.

"You alright?" Dynasty asked, seeing the expression on her friend's face as they kept one ear on the teacher calling out the register.

"Fine."

"You don't look it… Did you speak to Kevin?"

Hollie nodded slowly. "Mmmm…"

"It didn't go well, then?"

"Not really." She sighed deeply and rested her chin on her hand. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should have just…"

"What?" Imogen asked. "Gone along with it all? Let them decide what you're going to do with your life?"

"No… I just…"

"Hollie! That wouldn't be fair on either of you." Dynasty told her in a low voice, ignoring the glare their form tutor was sending them from the front of the classroom. "You'd just end up resenting each other."

"I know… but he's a really good guy and, like you said, this is such an amazing opportunity." She told them with another sigh. "And this… this is so important to him. Maybe I should have just waited until after the interview to tell him."

"Too late now."

"I know."

They stood up as the bell rang, grabbing their things and making their way through the corridors to their English lesson. To Hollie's surprise, Nikki was standing at the front of the class waiting for them rather than Mr Lowsley. Imogen and Dynasty sent her a curious look, but Hollie just shrugged, signalling that she had no idea why her mother was there.

"Right… Mr Lowsley's gonna be about ten minutes." Nikki explained once they had all settled down. "He says you guys know what you're doing, so… I just need to… nip out somewhere…"

As her sentence trailed off into nothing and she began to wander, almost distractedly, towards the door, Hollie received sharp looks from her friends. She jerked her shoulders in an approximation of a shrug, twisting in her seat to watch her mother in confusion. She had no idea what was going on with the woman and it was starting to concern her.

"Anyone we know?" Gabriella asked, a self-satisfied smirk on her face, as though she knew something no one else did.

Hollie's eyes narrowed and she watched as Nikki stopped and turned, sending the blonde a hard look. She didn't say anything and neither did Gabriella. They simply stared at each other for a moment, before Nikki resumed her walk to the door and the teenager moved around the table she was standing by to make herself comfortable in the seat closest to the board.

"What the hell was that about?" Scout asked, gaping at Hollie.

She shrugged. "Seriously, your guess is as good as mine. I asked her if she was OK and she basically bit my head off and ran away. There's definitely something wrong… I just can't work out what it is…"

No sooner had they looked back down at their work, than a shadow falling over their table made the girls look up again. Four sets of eyebrows rose at the sight of Kevin, dressed in his suit, leaning on the table to speak to Hollie. She furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at the clock.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the station?"

"I don't want to leave it like this." He told her. "You were right… I was only thinking about what I wanted."

"Kev, seriously, just go and catch your train or you'll miss your interview." Hollie told him.

"No…" He rounded the table to stand beside her. "Look, I love you, you know that. And… and if there's anything that you wanna do I'll support you. You can do anything that you want."

"You're going to miss it… forget about all this and just concentrate on your interview."

"I… I love you and I wanna support you."

"Just go!" Hollie almost shouted at him.

Part of her was angry with him for doing that to her; for pressurising and embarrassing her in front of the whole class. The other part of her was angry at him for risking missing out on his big opportunity to go to the university that he had set his heart on. It was stupid, wasting his time talking to her when he should be on his way to Edinburgh.

The girl turned away and was about to sit down, when she caught sight of her friends' scared and horrified expressions, watching something happening behind her. Whirling round, Hollie realised what had caused their looks immediately and almost screamed in shock.

Kevin was lying on the desk, convulsing violently. His eyes were tightly closed and his breath was coming in short, sharp gasps. Leaning over him, trying to stop the spasms, Hollie tried to get him to speak to her. When there was no response and, from behind her she could hear nothing at all, she whirled around and fixed her classmates with a furious glare.

"Get someone! Get some help!" She screamed, sending several people scattering through the door and out into the corridor.

"What's–?" Someone started, presumably about to ask what was happening, but Hollie tuned them out.

"Come on, baby… Come on, Kev… please…"

When the convulsing finally stopped, Kevin went limp. He was still sprawled across the top of the desk, unconscious. Dynasty and Imogen moved forward and put him into the recovery position. Hollie removed his tie and undid the top button of his shirt, choking back panicked tears.

"Everyone back, please." A comfortingly familiar voice broke through the silence. "Right back. Now." Nikki spared a comforting squeeze to her daughter's shoulder, before turning to Dynasty and Imogen who seemed to be calmer. "Is he breathing?"

"I don't know what happened." The Liverpudlian shook her head. "He's breathing… he just started talking funny and then collapsed."

"Is he allergic to anything?" Mr Reid asked, looking around at all of them for an answer.

"No."

"Kevin… Can you hear me?"

"Has anyone phoned an ambulance?" Nikki asked softly, placing one hand on her daughter's back as she leant over her boyfriend, still trying to wake him up.

Imogen nodded. "I did, yeah."

Nikki smiled at her, before turning her full attention back to the unconscious boy and her sobbing daughter.